State Bar of California Proceeding To Place Avenatti On Involuntary Inactive Status [View all]

[jberryhill]

http://www.calbar.ca.gov/About-Us/News-Events/News-Releases/state-bar-of-california-files-to-place-attorney-michael-j-avenatti-on-involuntary-inactive-status

Today the State Bar filed a petition with the State Bar Court to place Los Angeles attorney Michael J. Avenatti on involuntary inactive status, pursuant to California Business and Professions Code 6007(c)(1)-(3).

This section of statute, amended by the Legislature on January 1, 2019, authorizes the Office of Chief Trial Counsel to file a petition for involuntary inactive enrollment of an attorney when there is sufficient evidence to show that the attorney caused or is causing substantial harm to the attorney’s clients or the public and there is a reasonable probability both that the Chief Trial Counsel will prevail on a related disciplinary matter and that the attorney will be disbarred.

The licensee has 10 days from the service of the petition to file a verified response and request a hearing. If the licensee does not do so within that time frame, he waives the right to a hearing.

If no hearing is held, the State Bar Court must file its decision within 30 days of submission. If a hearing is requested, the Court will set a hearing date.

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The full complaint is here:

http://members.calbar.ca.gov/courtDocs/19-TE-30259.pdf



Attached to the complaint are all of the records and communications between Avenatti and the client Gregory Barela from whom Avenatti outright stole more than $700,000 and has ignored inquiries from the State Bar of California about why Barela never received his payment, and why Avenatti provided Barela a falsified version of the settlement agreement and lied about receiving the money.

Whenever you wonder, "How could people fall for an obvious fraudulent con man like Trump?", take a look at the people who deliberately ignored every red flag about Michael Avenatti, took him for some kind of hero, and intentionally misdirected others to minimize facts that were known about him early on.